The Gender Studies Program offers two interdisciplinary options for graduate students:
Gender Studies Graduate Cluster
Students in established departmental graduate programs can opt to participate in the Gender Studies Graduate Cluster. The cluster provides basic training in Gender Studies, and is a stepping-stone to the more advanced Gender Studies Graduate Certificate. The cluster is open to all interested graduate students; some students are designated recipients of a Gender Studis Cluster Fellowship.
Cluster Requirements
- One of the following four core courses (one or more offered annually) designed to provide students with broad theoretical and methodological training in gender and sexuality studies.
- Advanced Feminist Theory (Gender Studies 405)
- Social Science Approaches to Gender and Sexuality
- Queer Theory
- Theoretical and Methodological Issues in the History of Women, Gender, and Sexuality
- Two additional graduate courses drawn from this core, or others taught by the faculty: courses in Gender Studies or cross-listed courses in other graduate programs approved by the Director of Graduate Studies in Gender Studies.
- One year of enrollment (in the fourth or fifth years of their program of study, and optionally both) in the Gender Studies Doctoral Colloquium, a forum for the cireculation and discussion of scholarship and work in progress by advanced graduate students, faculty in the program, and distinguished visitors.
For more information on the Gender Studies Interdisciplinary Cluster Program, please see the information on The Graduate School website.
Gender Studies Graduate Certificate
The Gender Studies Graduate Certificate is designed to give students in Northwestern graduate programs advanced training in gender and sexuality studies. Many students view the Gender Studies Certificate as an important credential as they establish careers in scholarship and teaching positions that combine traditional academic disciplines with interdisciplinary work in gender and sexuality studies.
In general, students begin the Certificate Program in the second year of graduate study. During that year, the students take Gender Studies 405 (Advanced Feminist Theory), which is required of all certificate students. The remaining courses will be offered by or cross-listed with Gender Studies. After completing 405, students should confer with their thesis advisors and the Gender Studies Graduate Advisor to determine the direction of their research or perfromance project.
Certificate Requirements
- GNDR ST 405: Advanced Feminist Theory, offered yearly by Gender Studies
- Four courses with the approval of the Gender Studies Graduate Advisor. These may be 300 or 400-level courses in the student's own department and may be double-counted. Check here for current Gender Studies graduate course descriptions.
- A major piece of research with a Gender Studies Advisor or an advisor from the student's own department who has been approved by the Graduate Advisor in Gender Studies.
- A letter of assessment from the advisor of the research project, detailing the project's contribution to the study of gender.
Examples of suitable research projects include second-year papers or master's theses, doctoral research papers or any other major research project acceptable to the graduate advisor in Gender Studies.The research requirement may also be fulfilled by a presentation or a performance at the discretion of the advisor.
